I’m going to make this brief because I’m in a really terrible mood and feeling really sore today…

Anyways, since I hadn’t gotten around to sending off the quilt squares for Skull-A-Day yet (don’t worry, I’m sending them in the morning!!), I decided to do one more. I had this elaborate plan to use some of my big paint chips as a collage, but it failed miserably and I just got frustrated, so I went to plan B. I’ve got a few cute hole punches for scrap booking that I’ve somehow ended up with (and kept), so I decided I would make skulls using those. I used an old ripped black tank-top for the background and then just played around with the punches and attached them with hot-glue! Pretty simple, but I like the way it turned out and I picked the colors to complement the other squares I’ve done.

Abstracted skull shape in the middle with the orange elephants and then more skulls surrounding with yellow stars and red asterisks.

I’ll catch up eventually, but there’s been some serious neglect in my house keeping since I’ve been pretty sore lately. I’ll keep trying to do 1 post a day, but it will probably not be until Friday when I get caught up.

I realized a few days ago that the deadline for Skull-A-Day’s Skull Quilt Project is this Sunday, a week from today, and I had still to mail them all in! I’ve already made 3 other quilt squares, but I decided I needed one more since the proceeds from auctioning the quilts goes towards Becky’s Fund. My original goal was 6 squares, but the deadline sort of crept up on me and this last one took awhile!

Anyways, for the square, I used the same fabric from the 1st square as my 12×12″ base. Then, using a blue yarn, I crocheted a square that was roughly 10×10″, alternating between a shell stitch and double stitch. I used the shell stitch just so it would go a little faster since they take up more room and to see more of the background, but after I finished the square I thought they sort of looked like the shape of skulls! Here’s a close up with a little help from photoshop to see what I mean!

Hahaha that looks terrible! But you get the idea… I actually started to use a pink yarn and make the little faces on all of the stitches, but I quickly realized that it was going to take forever, so I tore out the yarn and ended up just making one big skull in the middle with the pink yarn. I turned out sort of skinny and stretched out looking because I wasn’t using a pattern and the way the yarn stretched, but I’m still pretty happy with it! I then just stuck the crocheted part to the fabric with some hot glue. I decided it needed a bow, so I used a scrap piece of the orange fabric from the second and third quilt squares and made a simple one with it just by folding and wrapping. I glued that down as well and I was done!

I think it turned out really well and all of the squares will be a great addition to the quilts!

Feeling much, much better today. I called in sick to work because I still felt bad this morning, but it seems the few extra hours of rest were all I needed! I hope to be back to my normal self by tomorrow.

For yesterday’s project, I made another Skull Quilt Square for Skull-A-Day’s quilts to be auctioned off for Becky’s Fund. For this third skull, I used the same orange t-shirt fabric as I did in the second square. I meant to take pictures as I went, but I got so caught up in making it that I forgot… oops! So I’ll just describe my process.

I started by making a 12×12″ square out of the t-shirt. I also had a tank top from Victoria’s Secret that was a giveaway to promote the 2010 fashion show. It didn’t fit me at all, so I cut out the words “fashion” and “show” and stuck them on with liquid stitch. I then played around with some beads I had to try and form the shape of a skull. I ended up using blue circle beads mixed with black and white striped beads to form the main shape, an orange bead for the nose hole and a donut bead broken in half to form the jaw. It turned out sort of abstracted, but I like it! It’s a haute couture skull! After gluing those down, I formed a purse of of some black and white beads, and the strap for it out of some more donut shaped beads broken in half. I think they look like links in a chain, which is pretty cool! A green bead served as the “clasp” for the purse. I finished off the square with some layered pink and blue beads in the O’s of the words to spice it up a little.

Okay so make that very abstracted skull. I still like it a lot though! I hope to make at least one more of these before mailing them out!

Today, I continued my progress in making Skull Quilt Squares for Skull-A-Day’s quilts to be auctioned off for Becky’s Fund. For my second square, I started with a 12×12″ square cut from a t-shirt that had a massive paint stain on the front!

BRIGHT orange square!

Then I took some fibrous purple yarn and crocheted the basic shape of a skull. (By the way, I had no pattern.. just kept looking at a picture of a skull and dropped and added stitches where I thought it looked right!)

Plain Skull… sort of lumpy, but I like it!

After that, I used some gray yarn to crochet some simple flowers in two different sizes.

Flowers. The bigger size is pictured.

After that, I took some pink yarn and added the details of the skull (eyes, nose, mouth). I then placed the skull where I wanted in the square and lightly traced it, and using that as a guide, pierced small holes into the square around the outline. I used that same pink yarn to sort of sew the skull onto the shirt, using the holes I cut. I also crocheted a little bow! (Really wish I had gotten pics of all the steps… sorry!)

I finally completed the square by attaching the flowers in random places. I attached them by piercing 2 small holes right next to each other, pulling the two ends of the flowers through, and finally tying them together on the backside of the square.

Done!

I left the petals of the flower loose to add more texture. I’m really happy with how this turned out! I think it’s so fun and cute! It took quite awhile to make because I can’t do too much crocheting in one sitting, but I think it was totally worth it!

By the way, tonight I went to the Tennessee Theatre and saw Spring Awakening! I originally saw this musical on Broadway in 2008, and immediately fell in love! It’s such a unique musical that brings to light issues of young adults that are never discussed. And I absolutely love the rock and roll style music! I recommend that if you ever get the opportunity to see this, GO! There is a lot of sexual content and swearing (just take a look at the song list…), so it’s not for kids or the easily offended, but I love, love, love it!!! It’s currently touring around the country, and I have to say that the cast is AMAZING! Many of them are better than the actors on Broadway! Even if you think you don’t like musicals, you are going to like this one!

Excuse me while I go listen to the soundtrack on repeat for the next 10 years…

Today’s project is going to be one of several in a series of quilt squares. My favorite 365 project, Skull-A-Day, is currently collecting skull themed quilt squares to make decorative quilts to be auctioned off. All the proceeds will go to Becky’s Fund, which is an organization that helps victims of domestic violence. I hope to do at least 4 of these, if not more, so be on the look out!

At any rate, the quilt squares had to be 12×12″, so I scoured my closet and found a shirt that had a huge hole in it that couldn’t be repaired. I decided that it was a worthy sacrifice

The 12×12″ Square

After that, I found some images of skulls online and created a stencil from them. I transferred that onto the back of a scrap piece of fabric. The fabric was an off-white sort of faux leather that I had planned on using in my piece I made for Furniture Design. I cut out all the stencils and just glued them to the square!

Sorry for the blurry picture!

This actually took a lot longer than you would think, because the pleather was really hard to cut! I thought about adding more to this, but I thought with the busy pattern it didn’t need anything else!

Just a heads up to everyone: Next week is going to be INSANE for me because it’s midterms!! I have 3 exams and a paper due!! AND I will be hosting a friend at my house in the middle of all of that!! So, needless to say, I will probably be falling behind a bit on this project! I’m working on a few projects today and tomorrow, so I will hopefully be able to have some prepared for next week, but if I do fall behind, sorry! I will be catching up as soon as possible! Like I said, I will be making more of these skulls, so it may end up being the theme for the week so I can go ahead and get them shipped out!

Thanks for bearing with me through midterm week! The week after next is Spring Break, so I’ll have plenty of time for amazing projects! Possibly even a collaboration with my mom??